Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers
See Our Highly-Customizable Range of Designs for Industrial and Utility Applications
Valutech offers a variety of shell and tube heat exchangers for general manufacturing industries and utility applications in institutions such as universities and hospitals. We represent industry-leading manufacturers to provide heat transfer devices individually designed to ensure application compatibility including: condensate coolers, high temperature hot water/steam generators,liquid chillers, vapour and steam condensers, and chemical process equipment, among others. The simple design of a shell and tube heat exchanger makes it an ideal cooling solution for a wide variety of applications; for example, one common application is the cooling of hydraulic fluid and oil in engines, transmissions and hydraulic power packs. Valutech also offers a complete range of shell and tube heat exchangers for steam heating, oil cooling, and other industrial processing applications, as well as stainless-steel shell and tube heat exchangers to meet strict hygienic requirements in industries such as food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, and personal care; for more information on these options, please click the respective box to the right:
Demanding modern manufacturing processes use heat exchangers that require an equally diverse range of construction materials. Our partners have full capability to work with carbon steel, stainless, and titanium, as well as nickel or copper alloys, and every custom-fabricated unit is manufactured under strictly controlled standards of workmanship to ensure conformity with ASME Code Section VIII Div 1 and all other relevant pressure vessel codes. For a full list of available materials and the standards with which our products comply with, please refer to the tables below:
Codes and Standards
- ASME
- TEMA
- CRN
- API
- Coast Guard
- HEI
Materials of Construction
- Carbon Steel
- Cast Iron
- Stainless Steel
- Inconel
- Brass
- Copper
- Cupro-Nickel
- Incolloy
- Hastelloy
- Alloy 20
- Titanium
- Monel
Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers
Find out more about our design capabilities below:
Shell and tube heat exchangers are the most common class of heat exchanger design in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and are suited for higher-pressure applications. As the name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) containing tubes. One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows within the shell and over the tubes to transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed of several shapes and styles of tubes including plain, longitudinally finned, etc. The diagram below illustrates the principal components of a shell and tube heat exchanger, based upon the BEU configuration:

Two fluids of different starting temperatures flow through the heat exchanger. Heat transfer occurs when the heat from the hotter fluid is transferred to the other via conduction through the tube walls and convection within fluid flow; the fluids can be either liquids or gases on either the shell or the tube side. The large surface area afforded by the outer surface of a large number of tubes within the shell creates a volumetrically efficient heat transfer device; this can be used for heating and cooling process fluids using dedicated heating/cooling sources or by using waste fluids to improve process efficiency. There are often baffles within the shell that direct flow in such a way that the fluid takes a thermally longer path through the shell side to improve volumetric efficiency. These are generally attached to the tube bundle rather than the shell in order ensure that the bundle is still removable for maintenance.

A shell and tube heat exchanger supplied to a tallow producer to cool bleached fat exiting a deodorizer at 450°F using cooling water. It features a specially-designed expansion joint to handle the large thermal load.

A shell and tube heat exchanger that was provided to a greenhouse provider for a steam-water heating application.
Heat exchangers with only one phase (liquid or gas) on each side can be called one-phase or single-phase heat exchangers; conversely, two-phase heat exchangers can be used to vaporize a liquid (boilers), or condense a vapour into its liquid phase (condenser), with the phase change usually occurring on the shell side. Boilers in steam engine locomotives are typically large, usually cylindrically-shaped shell and tube heat exchangers. In large power plants with steam-driven turbines, shell and tube surface condensers are used to condense exhaust steam from the turbine into condensate water, which is then recycled back to a steam generator. Counter current heat exchangers are most efficient because they allow for the highest possible temperature difference between the hot and cold streams at any given point within the unit. Further refinements in design such as multi-pass and U-Tube units improve efficiency but are more fragile and expensive. Often, multiple heat exchangers in series can be used to accommodate the duty of a single large unit. For more information on specialized shell and tube heat exchangers for specific applications, please select the style you are looking for from the options below:

Shell and Tube Steam Heaters

Sanitary Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Shell and Tube Oil Coolers

Industrial Process Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers
With the right choice of materials, shell and tube heat exchangers can also be used to cool or heat other mediums, such as swimming pool water or charge air. One of the notable advantages of using a shell and tube heat exchanger is that they are often easy to service, particularly with models where a floating tube bundle (where the tube plates are not welded to the outer shell) is available. Valutech also offers shell-and-tube style: intercoolers, aftercoolers, pressure vessels, chillers, and condensers, as well as replacement tube bundles for all of our models.
Not the heat exchanger that you’re looking for?
Click here to see the other models we offer.